Biography:
Professor Mari Jansen van Rensburg is the Pro Vice-Chancellor and Mauritius Campus Director of Middlesex University. She oversees the Mauritius campus, shaping and implementing its strategic plan, managing finances and resources, and ensuring high standards in student experience, academic achievement, and staff wellbeing. Mari serves on various institutional forums and is a member of the Middlesex University (UK) Academic Board, Academic Leadership Board, Programme Development Board, Senior Management Group, University Promotion Panel, and the International Campus Review Group. Furthermore, Mari contributes significantly to the educational landscape in Mauritius. Her commitment to growing the sector and fostering internationalisation is evident through her involvement and leadership in various ministerial, regulatory, and economic committees, task groups and panels. She is also an executive member of the Association of Private Higher Education Institutions. Before her current role, she had a successful career history at the University of South Africa (Unisa), where she served as a Professor in Strategic Management and held several senior leadership roles and positions. She ended her career at Unisa as Academic Director of the Graduate School of Business Leadership.

Title: Responsible technology use and deployment

Biography:
Professor Anton Grobler is a qualified industrial psychologist, Master People Practitioner, and an International Affiliate to the Society of Industrial and Organisational Psychology. He holds a Ph.D in Industrial Psychology and is currently the Area Head: Responsible Leadership in Practice at the School of Business Leadership at Unisa. Professor Grober has an extensive academic and institutional research record with numerous publications in accredited peer reviewed academic journals and has delivered papers at various national and international conferences. He is further an NRF rated researcher and serves as the Chief Editor for the African Journal of Employee Relations. His main research focus area is organisational leadership in the African context, specifically its role and contribution to organisational climate, and the impact it has on organisational and employee behaviour.

Title: Ethical leadership in the digital age: Harnessing opportunities, empowering communities, ensuring sustainability

Biography:
Avani Singh is an attorney of the High Court of South Africa and a certified mediator. Her work focuses on constitutional and human rights law with a specialisation in media freedom, digital rights and emerging technology. Avani consults to a wide range of clients in the public and private sector at all levels of the judicial system, in various parliamentary and law reform processes, as well as before regulatory mechanisms, constitutionally-mandated bodies and commissions of inquiry. At the regional and international levels, she has worked with amongst others the African Union, African Commission on Human and Peoples Rights, Pan-African Parliament, the United Nations Human Rights Committee and the Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights.

Title: Leadership in the Digital Era

Biography:
Dr. Stephen Murgatroyd is a Research Associate, Contact North I Contact Nord since 2005. He was awarded an Honorary Doctorate Athabasca University (2000) for his innovative work in e-learning. Dr Murgatryod is the co-author, with Donald Simpson, of Renaissance Leadership – Rethinking and Leading the Future (2011) and is currently completing a book for Routledge on Futures Leadership for Change (aimed at school leaders). In industry, he has designed, developed, and led leadership development programs for Conoco Phillips. Heinz, Barclays Bank, Tesco, and Oracle; and is currently working with others to develop leadership competency assessment and learning designs for a collective of First Nations (KTC) in Alberta.

Title: Leading Ethical Technology in a Tsunami: Avoiding Business Dystopia

Biography:
Professor Vincent Maphai has an unusual and distinguished career in academia, private sector, and public service. In academia, he distinguished himself locally and abroad holding fellowships at Harvard, Stanford, and Princeton Universities, and was a visiting Professor at Williams College in Massachusetts. He was a member of various university Councils and is the Chancellor at the Central University of Technology. In business, Vincent was the Director Corporate Affairs and Transformation at The South African Breweries Ltd the Chairman of BHP Billiton, South Africa for 5 years. He is currently the Chairman of the Board of Sibanye-Stilwater, and STADIO Holdings Ltd both companies listed on the Johannesburg Stock Exchange.

Biography:
Since taking up the post of Business Mauritius CEO in 2018, Kevin Ramkaloan has been leading the Mauritian business community in public-private collaborations and partnerships. He has worked closely with local institutions, government organisations and captains of industry. Prior to joining Business Mauritius, Kevin served as Director of the Mauritius Tourism Promotion Authority (MTPA) and, before that, was Director of New Business Development at the Board of Investment (BOI). A former State scholar, Kevin holds postgraduate degrees in economics and policy from the University of Cambridge (UK) and the University of Maine (US).

Title: Responsible Leadership in the Digital Era and the Age of Technology

Biography:
Dr. Carike Noeth is currently the centre manager of the Southern Africa Regional Centre of Globethics. She received a PhD from Stellenbosch University in 2017. She has been involved with tertiary education since 2014 and believes that education holds the key to a better future. She is also a research fellow at Stellenbosch University. Her career goal is to associate and align herself with companies, organisations, institutions, and NPO’s with a robust ethical focus. She is dedicated to promoting and achieving the kind of societal morality that will bring about a significant impact on social transformation, ethical awareness, and basic moral decision-making.

Biography:
Brad Huddleston is an internationally respected speaker, consultant, teacher, and author on important issues such as technology and culture. He has worked with universities, schools, churches, and law enforcement. He has spoken to hundreds of thousands worldwide on the advantages of well-used technology tools and the dangers of the growing trend toward technology addiction. Brad has an ongoing collaboration with the Bureau of Market Research (BMR)—an independent company—and its Consumer Neuroscience Division at the University of South Africa. Brad has a degree in Computer Science and a Diploma of Biblical Studies. He is a frequent guest on radio and television and the author of Digital Rehab: Learning to Live Again in the Real World., Digital Cocaine: A Journey Toward iBalance, and The Dark Side of Technology: Restoring Balance in the Digital Age. Brad also hosts the international radio show Brad Huddleston’s Techwise. Brad and his wife, Beth, live in the beautiful Shenandoah Valley of Virginia in the United States. You can find out more about Brad at: bradhuddleston.com

Biography:
Vrigesh Futta has spent much of his career across the African continent working with leaders of organizations across mining, finance, manufacturing, retail, and governments in leveraging the potential technology to achieve or exceed top-level priorities. Ex Gartner, he has a BA & MBA in Innovation and leadership. He is now leading the Mauritius Emerging Technologies Council – which has the mandate to promote and support the development and adoption of emerging technologies for the benefit of the Mauritian economy and society.

Biography:
Marc Israel is an Entrepreneur, Thought Leader, Author and Public Speaker, with more than 30 years of success across Technology industries. After 17 years at Microsoft, serving as CTO for Sub-Saharan Africa, and leveraging extensive experience in technical leadership, Marc founded Aetheis, a company aiming at providing executive consultancy in the field of digital transformation. Marc is also a business angel who founded the first syndicated business angels’ network in Mauritius, Mo Angels, a podcast producer of Entrepreneurs Talk Africa, a startup coach for Turbine Incubator and Seedstars, a lecturer for UdM, CTI and HEC Paris, and an independent board director of Mauritius Network Services, Bank One, and Turbine Incubator.
Marc obtained his degree in Robotics and Engineering from École Supérieure d’Ingénieurs en Électrotechnique et Électronique in Paris. He has completed INSEAD and Wharton Executive Education (with distinction) programs. Marc is the recipient of many National Public Speaking Award and the author of over 20 books published in French and English on various technical and leadership topics.

Biography:
Professor Divya Singh holds a Doctorate in Law from the University of South Africa; and a second Masters in Tertiary Education Management (with Honours) from the University of Melbourne. She is a Certified Ethics Officer and a Board member of both The Ethics Institute (SA) and Globethics (Geneva). Divya is a professionally trained advocate and practiced for her own account before returning to a career in academia. Her academic career in higher education spans more than thirty years, a significant number of which have been spent in leadership roles in public and private higher education. She is currently the Chief Academic Officer at STADIO (Pty) Ltd, a private higher education institution in South Africa, and a Director of STADIO Holdings Ltd, a JSE-listed company with interests in three private higher education institutions namely, STADIO, AFDA and Milpark Education. She is currently also an Adjunct Assoc. Professor at the University of Walter Sisulu.
Her research profile includes a significant number of accredited and industry peer-reviewed publication in the fields of law, ethics, higher education governance and leadership, and more recently ethics and technology. She has presented many papers at both domestic and international conferences.
Prof Singh’s experience also includes service on Boards, Commissions of Enquiry, and Audit Committees in the public and private sectors. She has successfully initiated and facilitated co-operative and stakeholder relationships and received acclaim and stakeholder recognition both domestically and internationally for her academic contributions and work in communities. She may be contacted on divyas@stadio.co.za.

Biography:
John Luis is the visionary Head and Founder of IVA Global Online School, where he has revolutionised virtual education with a pioneering 3D virtual learning environment since 2020.
With extensive leadership experience, he has previously served as Head of Academics at ADvTECH Group, Senior Deputy Head at the Oprah Winfrey Leadership Academy for Girls, and Head of Reddam House Bedfordview.
John is also a National Mathematics IEB Examiner and a member of the Academic Council at Fedisa Fashion School, underscoring his commitment to advancing educational standards.
His innovative approach and dedication to academic excellence continue to inspire and impact the educational community globally.

Biography:
Dr Suraj Juddoo currently executive director of the Mauritius Digital Promotion Agency which caters for digital proficiency courses with a planned one focused on basic AI concepts and also promoting open data in the country, he is also chairperson of the Mauritius Emerging Technologies Council, whose main focus is to advise government on emerging technologies use.
Suraj Juddoo had an extensive career in academic, research and consultancy. He has been involved in research surrounding Big Data in the health care sector as part of a doctoral work towards optimizing data quality. He applied AI as part of the methodology with the aim of automating the data quality lifecycle.
He has been publishing in various conferences in topics related to Big Data, Machine learning and other IT related fields. He is involved in cross disciplinary research by working with co-researchers from Mauritius, UK, USA, Brazil, Italy and China. He has been part of several externally funded research projects and is still currently involved in many initiatives such as being country level expert for responsible AI deployment.

Biography:
Mahen Govinda is the Chief Technology Officer of Ciel Finance Limited, the financial services cluster of Ciel Group, a listed and diversified conglomerate headquartered in Mauritius. His main responsibility within Ciel Finance is to pilot and drive investment opportunities in digital financial services.
Mahen has over 25 years of experience working in various fields namely ICT, financial services, education and eGovernment services. He has worked for over 15 years in the global business sector in Mauritius in various capacities and roles. He was previously the CEO of MITCO Group which is a management company licensed by the Financial Services Commission and with offices in Seychelles and Dubai. Prior to joining MITCO, Mahen was the CEO of Mauritius Network Services, a public private partnership company which provides digital services linking government to businesses. He was also a Regional Head and Operations Director at Ocorian which is a leading corporate, fund and private client services provider present in 20 jurisdictions worldwide. Mahen was a Director at the Economic Development Board ('EDB') between 2005 and 2010 where he was responsible for the promotion of the ICT, Freeport and Financial Services sectors. At the EDB, he worked closely with some global firms for the implementation of their delivery centre in Mauritius. Mahen is a thought leader for the Fintech industry in Mauritius. He is currently the chair of the Fintech Commission of Business Mauritius. Mahen holds a first degree in Electrical and Electronics Engineering, a master degree in Telecommunications from Lancaster University, UK, an MBA in Financial Management from Anglia Ruskin University, Cambridge UK and is qualified in Corporate Finance from the Chartered Institute of Securities and Investment, UK. He also followed the General Management Programme from Essec Business School, France.